Guest columnist: Does Mission stand with us?

Reporter Mark Barrett explains the dispute between Mission Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina which could lead to the insurance provider being dropped by the health care provider in October.

That’s what Mission Health Care System is asking the people of Western North Carolina to do as it battles the region’s biggest insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield.

But before you take sides in that extremely complex issue, ask yourself this: Does Mission stand with us, the people it supposedly exists to serve? Does this $1.7 billion nonprofit live up to its oft-stated values of respect, integrity, trust and teamwork?

In May, Mission administrators abruptly declared that they intended to close the labor and delivery unit at Blue Ridge Regional Hospital in Spruce Pine. That decision, which will force women in labor to travel a sometimes-treacherous mountain road to Marion to deliver their babies, came down with no discussion, no consultation, no apparent concern for the impact on the people in Mitchell, Yancey, Avery and McDowell counties served by the hospital.

Mission simply announced the change and, three weeks later, rammed a vote through the local hospital board.

Even if Mission is in the right in its fight with Blue Cross, actions like these sadly undercut its claims to have the best interests of Asheville and other Western North Carolina communities at heart.

This isn’t the first labor and delivery unit Mission has shut down. The pattern was much the same at Angel Medical Center in Franklin, which stopped delivering babies last month.

The people who depend on Blue Ridge Hospital aren’t naïve. We know that Mission is a highly acclaimed institution – in many ways a regional gem. We know that, like all hospital systems, it is struggling to bring its costs in line with what insurers and programs like Medicare and Medicaid will pay (hence the showdown with Blue Cross). We know that labor and delivery units typically lose money.

And we certainly know that every health provider in North Carolina has been stretched to the breaking point by the state’s decision not to accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid as provided by the Affordable Care Act.

Nevertheless, we were shaken and angered by the way Mission’s administrators acted in this instance. If they had come to the community and explained its challenges, laid out options, asked for help in solving its problems, we could have had a productive conversation. We could possibly even have found a way to keep labor and delivery at Blue Ridge.

Even if the outcome was unchanged, Mission would have built trust and good will rather than suspicion and ill will. Instead, it took the expedient path, opting for secrecy and strong-arm tactics, and justifying the decision by suggesting, falsely, that the quality of Blue Ridge’s maternity services was sub-par. (In fact, as a group of doctors pointed out in a letter to our local papers, the labor and delivery unit had an excellent record of safe births).

The fallout from Mission’s actions has been swift and devastating. Already, two physicians have decided to move their practices to other areas where they can continue to deliver babies. Two others plan to move or retire. That may not sound dire to people who live in Asheville, but in our small, economically struggling counties, it is a major blow.

Even now, those of us distressed by Mission’s actions don’t see it as an enemy. It has provided financial support to keep our hospital open. But we want to see a change in the way Mission does business. We want to have a greater say about the care provided at our local hospital.

To that end, concerned citizens, including several doctors and other medical professionals, have banded together under the name SEARCH (Sustaining Essential and Rural Community Healthcare). Our aim is to work with Mission to preserve the highest quality of care in our rural communities.

Our hope is that Mission will welcome our efforts, and that in the future we will proudly stand with Mission as true partners.

Karin Rolett is a retired family therapist. She has lived in Yancey County for 16 years where she volunteers with organizations serving the elderly and the developmentally challenged.